Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The Christiana post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Utica (1848), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Christiana is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Christiana’s 79.1 sits above most of its state (92% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Christiana’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Christiana. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Christiana.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltBedrud-Olson Farmstead is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Christiana yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1846. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,235 in 2010, 1,235 in 2020.
Passages that mention Christiana, cut from the printed page as they were published.
HAXS C. JACOBSOW, farmer. Sec. 10; P. 0. Cambridge; was born in Norway in 1839, and emigrated to Dane Co., Wis., with his parents in 1853; they located in the town of Christiana, where fchey afterward died. Our subject settled on a farm on Sec. 35, town of Deerfield, in 1863, and made that his home till 1872, when he bought a farm of 239i acres on Sec. 10, town of Christiana, and 40 acres on Sec. 34, town of Deerfield ; he has since resided on Sec. 10, town of Christiana. He enlisted in Co. I, 49th W. V. I., in February, 1865, under Col. Fellows, of Milwaukee, and served with his regiment in the Army of the West, until mustered out at Benton Barracks in October, 1865. He was married, in Christiana, in 1872, to Miss Johanna Olson, a native of Norway, and who came to Wisconsin 1870 ; their
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Albion is one of the original towns created by the act of the Territorial Legislature of February 2, 1846. As then constituted, it comprehended not only the whole of what is now the town of Christiana, but also the territory included within its present limits. Its population, according to the census taken the year of its organization, was 478 males and 433 females ; total, 911 ; but this, of course, included all the then residents of what is now the town of Christiana. Its present population is 1,351. By an act approved January 3, 1847, the last-mentioned town was created, which reduced Albion to its present territory of Township 5 north, of Range 12 east. The town is situated in the extreme southeast corner of the county. It was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
openings, nearly all settled on the prairie. The first store in Utica, which was of gravel, was opened iu 1851 by Le Hoy Orandall, now of Lawrence, Kansas, and here soon after the removal of Christiana postoffice from Majhew's to Clinton, Utica postoflSce, named in honor of Utica, New York, was established.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Christiana itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Christiana had its own post office from 1846 to 1885. Another post office, Utica, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Christiana post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Christiana is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Bedrud-Olson Farmstead (listed 1999).
37% of Christiana’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1965.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
